Did someone really throw a DM's gear off the boat?!

[ggunn]

Names are on the facebook report. So they were/are public knowledge.
and made it here: <link deleted>

Even so, we can (and should, IMO) refrain from spreading rumors about them with their names attached. We don't really know what happened.

 

[scubafanatic]

Even so, we can (and should, IMO) refrain from spreading rumors about them with their names attached. We don't really know what happened.

Given how bad for business it is for a business to actually try to have a particular customer 'banned' , it's pretty likely the DM's version of the story is closer to the truth. When was the last time anyone here has seen a dive op 'ban' a customer...ever ??? !!!
I remember a Turks & Caicos Explorer liveaboard I did a few years ago, we had an elderly couple, the husband being the most destructive diver I've ever witnessed, the human wrecking ball who cut an F5 tornado swath of destruction through the reefs in his photopraphic quests, he was shunned by all the other divers who witnessed his antics. It was embarassing one evening at dinner when he announced if anyone wanted to check out his dive photos on his laptop, and there was dead silence in the room....you could hear a pin drop !!!

 

[Mossman]

Given how bad for business it is for a business to actually try to have a particular customer 'banned' , it's pretty likely the DM's version of the story is closer to the truth. When was the last time anyone here has seen a dive op 'ban' a customer...ever ??? !!!
I remember a Turks & Caicos Explorer liveaboard I did a few years ago, we had an elderly couple, the husband being the most destructive diver I've ever witnessed, the human wrecking ball who cut an F5 tornado swath of destruction through the reefs in his photopraphic quests, he was shunned by all the other divers who witnessed his antics. It was embarassing one evening at dinner when he announced if anyone wanted to check out his dive photos on his laptop, and there was dead silence in the room....you could hear a pin drop !!!

And no one said or did anything about it?

 

[scubafanatic]

And no one said or did anything about it?

It's been a number of years ago, and I tried to stay as far away as possible from the ugliness, so I don't know if the crew confronted him on this or not, I suspect they did. He didn't get banned from diving on that trip, so rules were bent to avoid losing a paying customer. I do know the DM's were exasperated with him and his bubble headed wife (she was harmless to the reef, but a clueless diver (advanced age) and it wasn't long before the boat assigned her a private DM as she was way past the point where she had the mental capacity to dive independently.) I got involved in a rescue situation with her on one wall dive (T & C is famous for it's DEEP wall dives.) she was mindlessly drifting down the wall, deeper and deeper, I intercepted her past 130', got there at the same time as a DM.....we both spotted trouble brewing...he thanked me after the dive for the 'intervention'. I was as if she had no situational awareness.......I think it was after this dive she was assigned a permanent DM personal escort.

The most vivid single mental snapshot I have of this "gentleman's" destruction is I watched him get his photography cables/cords get snagged up around a beautiful barrel sponge, and instead of backing up and carefully untangling himself and his gear he just yanked on everything, decapitated the barrel sponge, and I watched the entire sponge rolling down the wall into the abyss!

 

[Mossman]

The most vivid single mental snapshot I have of this "gentleman's" destruction is I watched him get his photography cables/cords get snagged up around a beautiful barrel sponge, and instead of backing up and carefully untangling himself and his gear he just yanked on everything, decapitated the barrel sponge, and I watched the entire sponge rolling down the wall into the abyss!

Not that I'm advocating anything criminal, but that's one guy whose camera and gear should have "accidentally" fallen overboard during the trip. Yow.

I believe there should be an "eye for an eye" approach to reef destruction. I've accidentally bumped corals or sponges with my fins on the rare occasion, even though I'm normally extremely careful. For those mishaps, I should be kicked. And I have been. On my last trip, I was kicked in the head rather hard. But someone who deliberately breaks off part of the reef, well, maybe the hand lopping they do in Iran for theft would be appropriate? At the least, after two such incidents, they won't be holding a camera

 

[hyperbaric_1]

Maybe they'll appear to share their story...

Based on a quick google, they certainly don't appear to be tree-hugging environmentalists.

 

[koozemani]

Maybe they'll appear to share their story...

Based on a quick google, they certainly don't appear to be tree-hugging environmentalists.

Nope. That was my assessment too. We can pass the hat around and buy the victim a plane ticket to IA so that he can dump some of their business equipment into a quarry. Eye for an eye. ***if this report is found to be factual ***

 

[Wookie]

I'm here for the popcorn effect....

 

[divad]

What is this "popcorn" you speak of?

 

[Wookie]

What is this "popcorn" you speak of?

While watching or participating in a train wreck with at least 2 moderators intervention, I like to sit back and have popcorn. I like to wash it all down with Sailor Jerry and Ginger Ale. I hope the gear throwers come respond in the worst way.